With the coronavirus stats going in the right direction, all of us at C&G Newspapers look forward to resuming publication of the St. Clair Shores Sentinel and Birmingham-Bloomfield Eagle on May 27th. All other C&G newspapers will begin publishing on June 10th (Advertiser-Times on June 24th). In the meantime, continue to find local news on our website and look for us on Facebook and Twitter.

Attention Readers: Find Us in Your Mailbox Soon

With the coronavirus stats going in the right direction, all of us at C&G Newspapers look forward to resuming publication of the St. Clair Shores Sentinel and Birmingham-Bloomfield Eagle on May 27th. All other C&G newspapers will begin publishing on June 10th (Advertiser-Times on June 24th). In the meantime, continue to find local news on our website and look for us on Facebook and Twitter.

Terry Oparka

C&G Staff Reporter – Troy Times

Staff Writer Terry Oparka covers Troy and the Troy School District for the Troy Times. Oparka has worked for C & G Newspapers since 2000 and attended Oakland University and Macomb Community College. Oparka has won an award from the Michigan Press Association and four awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, Detroit Chapter.

She spent between 30 and 35 hours a week perfecting her techniques at Juliana’s Academy of Dance in Madison Heights when she was a student at Troy High School. She graduated from Troy High in 2009, and has worked as a sales associate, but she put that aside to live her dream of dancing.

For about six weeks straight this summer, the 16-to-18-hour days of Athens High School senior David Kolar went something like this: wake up, eat breakfast, rehearse, eat lunch, rehearse, eat dinner, perform, eat a snack, sleep on the floor of a gymnasium.

Kolar performed the mellophone, or marching French horn, on football fields across the Midwest with the Legends Drum and Bugle Corps, based in Kalamazoo.

All available police responded to a report of armed intruders and shots fired at a home on North Lake, near John R and Big Beaver, just before 5 p.m. Aug. 26, only to learn that the call was a prank.

Police dispatch received a call on the hearing impaired line stating that a 16-year-old male at the home on North Lake was hiding in a closet because four men were in the home with weapons and shots were fired.

Firefighters battled a blaze on the rooftop of a five-story Troy office building just after 6:30 a.m. Aug. 26.

Firefighters from stations 3 and 6 were dispatched to the Sheffield Office Center, at 3250 W. Big Beaver, and discovered a rooftop exterior address sign ablaze.

Firefighters entered the building to ascend to the roof and safely evacuated the few people in building, Assistant Fire Chief Dave Roberts said. Water from the ladder truck quickly extinguished the blaze, according to reports.

Although she and her husband, Adam, own a boat and take it out on Lake St. Clair with their three children, Aaron, 9, Wendy, 7, and Alex, 5, she is not a strong swimmer and didn’t swim at all as a child growing up in China.

Several people in Jixi, the city in northern China she lived in, drowned in the local lake.

She explained that even experienced swimmers got stuck in the sticky bottom of that lake, and her parents didn’t allow her or her siblings to go into the water.

Three Troy School District Board of Education members will face two challengers for their seats this November.

Trustee Gary Hauff, serving his 13th year on the board, Trustee Todd Miletti, serving his fourth year on the board, and Trustee M’Liz Malven, in her first year, will vie against newcomers Karl Schmidt and Cristian Teodoridis for three six-year terms.

School board candidates turned in a petition with 40 signatures or paid a $100 filing fee to appear on the ballot.

In the Troy School District, Larson Middle School, Athens High School and Niles Community High School failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress guidelines this year, according to results released this month from the Michigan Department of Education.

The state uses data from the Michigan Educational Assessment Program and the Michigan Merit Exam tests for the rankings.

A jury said the shooting of Saif Jameel, 33, the owner of the BP gas station at Big Beaver and Crooks, was premeditated and deliberate.

Hayes Bacall, 51, had said he shot Jameel in self-defense July 2, 2010, but the jury returned a guilty verdict of first-degree murder in the case at about noon Aug. 18. Deliberations were carried out the afternoons of Aug. 15 and 17, and the morning of Aug. 18. Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Rae Lee Chabot heard the case.

She specializes in fiber art in the form of denim clothing items, many for children, and she is one of the featured artists at Northfield Hills Art on the Lake.

Juried work from more 90 artists — pottery, watercolors, fiber art, photography, woodwork, stained-glass and more — will be on view at the 37th annual Northfield Hills Art on the Lake from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 28.

Upcoming Events

The events in our calendar were submitted prior to the coronavirus crisis.
As efforts have increased to contain the spread of the coronavirus, many events have been canceled.
Read More...
On March 13, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued an executive order to cancel all events statewide that involve more than 250 people. It is recommended that you call ahead if you still intend to attend one of these events.